carry handles

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

this may be a dumb question, and I’ve been out in space on some questions recently, but I’m going to ask anyway:

does anyone actually carry their AR using the carry handle? if so, how do you do this muzzle up or muzzle down? (or at least, w/o grossly violating rule 2)

was it common at some point in history to use the carry handle? i.e. did soldiers in Vietnam saunter around pointing their muzzle at the knees of the man in front? or has it always been there primarily to support the rear sight at the proper elevation given the cheek weld on the buffer tube?

did the military ever teach people to hold AR15s by the carry handle?

why, with over a decade of flattops behind us, are detachable carry handles so popular? (with civilians)

out of curiosity i did a totally unscientific survey by browsing the first ten pages of google images of US soldiers in iraq and it looks like maybe 10% of the AR15s in those pictures had carry handles, although no one was holding them.

2

i believe the original AR10 housed the charging handle under the carry handle. it was really more of a guard for the charging handle than anything else.

kind of a vestigial structure. like an appendix.

i have one on my flat top though. :o i’ve used it as a carry handle, kinda handy i guess. i wouldn’t carry the rifle by it for a long period of time.

3

From my time at Recruit Training on the Depot in San Diego through my time in the fleet and Iraq, Marine Corps. “SOP” was to never carry the weapon by the “carry handle.” Carrying by the handle is unsafe due to the muzzle not being toward the sky or toward the dirt. Not to mention it just looks undicsiplined.

4

Nope, I tell every student I teach that it’s a weapon and not a lunch box so carry it like a weapon. Short answer, no, I never carry my weapon by the carrying handle.